■n 



ft BIRS'E-BYE HEW 



PROGRESS 



iQieHQe, ReligisH ^ PhiI©s©p!^Y 






A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW 

OF THE 

PROGRESS 

OF 

SCIENCE, RELIGION, 

AND 

PHILOSOPHY. 



SSv Sftifomatfi. 



c 



THE 


RHODE ISLAND NEWS COMPANY. 




/.< \' OF CO V, 

( Dt'j ^5} 188. 

Pkovidence J. A. A: R. A. REID, Printers. 

1S83. 



-J^ 



,<, 



w\ 



CONTENTS. .,>"" 



V ,V 



The word of God warrants a faitli which readies beyond all thai science 
or philosophy has yet discovered. 

All Law Subject to God's Will, and the Moral 

Law Supreme Authority to us, ... 4 

Light Midst THE Darkness OF the Heathen Mind, 5 
Success of Missions, Progress of Religion, . . 6 
The Way of Light Revealed by the Word of God, 8 
True Faith Essential to Salvation, ... 8 
The Improved Means of Conveying Knowledge, . 9 
Power of the Pray'er of Faith — Examples, . 9 

Review of Ancient and Modern Philosophy, as 
Presented by Socrates, Thales, Plato, Aris- 
totle, Zeno, Seneca, Descarte, Kant, Jacobi, 
Fitch, Leibnitz, Herbart, Schelling, Spinoza, 
Hegel, Voltaire, Hinton, Compte, Clifford, . 11 
All Systems of Philosophy have Failed to Reach 

the Desired Ultimatum, 13 

Failure Supposed to Proceed from Taking a False 

Basis or Stand-point, ...... 14 

All Life God's Direct Activity and Based on the 

Universal Law of Right, 14 

Existence is in Essence, not in Phenomenal Ap- 
pearance ; Hinton Tries a Negative Theory, 15 
The Use of Phenomena, " Science Philosopher's 
Doctor," Revelation Through Faith Doctor a 

Scienci, 16 

Faith in the Phenomenal World Discovers more 
than Sense Illustrated by the Scriptural Or- 
dinance OF Baptism 17 

Faith Strengthened by Natural Phenomenon as 

IN the Dawn of Morning, 18 



A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW 



Progress of Science, Religion, and PWlosopliy. 

^^ ____ 

Teachers of science, minds profound, 
You cliase the heavenly bodies 'round. 
Scan earth, rock, sea, heat, air and light. 
To prove your novel theories right. 
Test by God's word ere you can know 
That Science may not further go. 

Wise men of old assumed their ground, 
Based on it theories seeming sound. 
But new discoverers soon o'erthrew 
What older sages thought they knew. 
Philosophy, divinely taught, 
Leads to the higher, wiser thought. 

The rainbow hues make rich display, 

When through the cloud light shoots astray ; 

These colors vanish out of sight, 

When all combine to make pure white. 

True chemistry and wisdom teach 

To combine thoughts, the truth to reach. 

The rays of thought through one man's head, 

Paint an idea reflecting red ; 

One shows the yellow, one the blue. 

Green shining out between the two ; 

Some teachers' depth and power of brain 

Emit their thoughts in purple plain. 



Some men are spreading creeds aroinid, 
That laws revealed have proved unsound ; 
The light, reflected by their brain. 
Forms no true color, but a stain. 
Christians beware, their shams detect. 
Lest they deceive the true elect I 

Each step of knowledge shows its hue. 
In its march upward toward the true. 
What man has mind so clear and bright 
As to diffuse the pure white light. 
Until the lens of truth divine 
His thought c<)n\erge, or, shape to shine? 

The hill of science seems to rise 
Till mountain views attract men's eyes ; 
There, some their iie phis ultra write. 
But others seek from God new light : 
His thoughts are high above our own. 
Far as the deep is from His throne. 

As rainbow beauties fade away 
In sunshine clear, in cloudless da\-, 
So Science, at its zenith height. 
Will merge its hues in Gospel light. 
Test by God's word your theories new. 
What that denies cannot be true. 

Mistaken man who claims to kno\v 
That miracle doth law o'erthrow : 
Law draws weight in, law drives it out, 
Two laws combined whirl it about ; 
As gravity thus yields to force. 
Both vield to higher laws of course. 

When apples fall and balloons rise, 

And ponderous clouds float 'neath the skies, 



We marxcl not. they all oIk-v 
Nature's behest, that or this way. 
Who knows but laws above our ken 
Mav rule all laws now known by men.'' 

The mere school-bow b\ unseen thread. 
Can make his gas ball downward tread ; 
Why niav not God, by hidden force. 
Turn Nature from her wonted course.'' 
Science, stretch forth your power, to find 
How Nature's laws ai^e ruled by mind. 

Not needing skins nor seeds, but juice. 

To make the drink for ready use. 

True chemist, Christ made water wine, 

Speeding the change by power divine. 

Let this convince the skeptic too 

That He man's sfirit can renew — instanter 

Light seemed to lead the heathen mind 
vSome shadows of the truth to find : 
Show they uot truth with their mistake 
When idols thev in semblance make. 
To Father, Son and Spirit true. 
Their Brahma. Si\a. and Vishnu? 

In "Light of Asia " light is good. 

If light and shade be understood : 

Confucius' lamp might have shone clear, 

'Twas trimmed anew as death di^ew near : 

He in the distance seemed to spy 

Some Bethlehem Star, then drawing nigii. 

And Socrates had such a view. 
Like a prophetic glimpse, then, too. 
But clouds from Boodh or Fo's Vedas 
Befogged the light of lamp and stars : 



Wanting the sun's direct pure rays, 
Asia's broad sky still dwelt in haze. 

Oh haste, ye Gospel heralds, go, 

The unmixed truth teach them to know. 

With Pauline faithfulness declare 

The triune God is everywhere. 

True worship is in spirit given, 

By men on earth and saints in heaven. 

Christ's last commission given to men. 

Obeyed by His apostles then. 

Has proved its power to send abroad 

True faithful servants of their Lord : 

Since then, thank God, His word has found 

Much soil prepared on heathen ground. 

Christ sowed Himself the precious seed ; 

His life was mission life indeed ; 

His true disciples labored on, 

Cheered by His words, when He was gone ; 

When Pentecostal showers came down. 

Rich harvests did their labors crown. 

For Indian tribes that went astray, 
Eliot and Brainerd cleared the way. 
For futui'e progress in the right, 
They set before them the true light. 
God's word, translated in their tongue. 
Was made more clear for old and young. 

The names of Judson, Carey, Price, 

Wade, Boardman, Newel, Colman, Rice, 

Suggest a panoramic view 

Of missions old and missions new ; 

Of mountains sinking into plains, 

Of barren fields refreshed by rains. 



.7 

A host of followers, faithful, true, 
Disposed their missions to pursue. 
Have scattered seed that has been blessed, 
In regions north, south, east, and west. 
Christian oases now are found. 
Where late was heathen desert ground. 

God by His word hath wonders wrought, 
And wonders, too, through Nature taught, 
But still the harvest field's the world ; 
Christ's banner needs be yet luifurled. 
Till superstition's power gives wa}' ; 
Mohammed's Koran yielding sway. 

The eneni) still sows the tares. 
The germ of truth is choked with cares. 
In Christian lands we laborers need. 
To till the ground and sow new seed, 
To trim the trees, to prune the vines. 
To bend the twig that wrong inclines. 

Oh, let the \\-ord of God be taught. 
And Nature sliow what she has wrought. 
Tlie two combined, when understood, 
Shows the Divine, the True, the Good, 
Calls for our service, homage, praise. 
Obedience, trust, and love always. 

It needs not Aristotle's brain. 

Nor Plato's volumes to explain 

How man is reconciled to God ; 

That, He has told us in His word. 

The unlearned jnan, though called a fool, 

May imderstand the simple rule. 

And yet so marvelous is the plan. 
It could not be devised by man. 



8 

What boundless love and wondrous grace, 
To save our lost and sinful race, 
On terms ^\■ith which all may comph' — 
The rich, the poor, the low, the hio-h I 

Against God's will did man rebel. 
His steps then tended down to hell ; 
But God so loved the world. He gave 
His Son to die, our souls to save. 
He faithfully God's law fulfilled, 
And for our ransom His blood spilled. 

He rose again to justifv 
Believing souls condemned to die. 
Now, He, the living Word, doth sav — 
I am the Life, the Truth, the Way. 
They that believe, though thev were dead, 
vShall live in Christ, their living Head. 

True faith unites ^^■ith Him in love. 
Who intercedes for us above. 
The Spirit's work — the gift of God — 
Leads us to choose Him as our Lord. 
Thus God the Father, through the Son, 
Doth bv the vSpirit make us one. 

\Ve live In' faith, Christ is the bread. 
We from the word are richly fed : 
We walk bv faith, we journev on 
Whither our Leader. Christ, has gone : 
We learn by faith, when hence we go, 
As we are known so shall we know. 

Bv prophet's voice and slalis of stone, 
God's law was erst to man made known. 
Then manuscript, in parchment scroll. 
Filled with His truth the sacred roll. 



I'hvlactcrics and sculpture tau<i,"ht 

Of God His w ill : of man his thought. 

Bv paper now. b\ wood and stone. 

Hv telej^raph and teleph(jne, 

By \vritin<4\ printing, sight, and sound, 

Knowledge is spread the world around. 

Electric force will now outrini. 

To human \ie\\ . even the sun. 

Hut force of steam and light and air 
Cannot surpass the power of prayer. 
In the high heavens upon His throne 
(jod will His faithful suppliant own. 
And sometimes, ere the words are said, 
He grants the praver for living bread. 

God's \\ ill is I'dw : at His decree 
The prayer of faith may turn the sea : 
But if we cra\ e a gift too soon, 
He may awhile withhold the boon. 
He knows the time. He knows the way. 
To bless the faithful souls that pray. 

Farth ill Jeho\ ah as their Lord, 

Savetl Gideon's army from the sword. 

He with his faithfid chosen few. 

Held forth their lamps, their trumpets blew 

And Midian's host, all seized with dread. 

And Amalek. from Israel fled. 

A man like us. Elijah, prayed. — 

Three \'ears and more the rain was stayed ; 

Again, to show Jehovah's power. 

He asked of Him to grant a shower. 

The rain was sent : also the fire 

Came down from heaven, at his desire, 



lO 

Consumed the sacrifice thrice drenched. 
Wood, stones, and water in tlie trench. 
Then Baal's worshipers did own 
The Lord Jehovah claimed the throne ; 
For Baal could not answer prayer, 
Nor light the sacrifice with fire. 

The Hebrew three in faith stood fast, 
When in the fiery furnace cast ; 
Since God says "worship only me," 
They durst resist the king's decree. 
One like God's Son with them appeared, 
And they were neither singed nor seared. 

vSee faithful Daniel, thrice a day. 

Risking his life, as wont to pray. 

He 'midst the lions need not fear. 

He found God's sa\ing angel near ; 

And praying men were deemed too good 

For hungry lions' prev and food. 

Peter came forth free as the air 

From stocks and chains, by means of prayer 

God heard his brethren supplicate. 

And open sprang the prison gate. 

God's moral laws remain in force. 

Though other laws should turn their course. 

When, drifting o'er the surging wave. 
His friends alarmed called Christ to save ; 
Human, asleep. He now awoke — 
Be still ! with power divine, He spoke. 
The wind and sea at once were calm, 
And His disciples saved from harm. 

Read Socrates, Thales, Plato 
And Aristotle, then Zeno — 



II 



While thus vou plow deep waters throui^h, 
Pray terra firma keep in view ; 
These drifting seas connect with lands 
Where Seneca and Paul shake hands. 

'Tis well o'er sophic seas to roam, 
But solid ground's the safest home. 
Descartes and Kant, Jacobi. Fitch, 
On sea or land we scarce know which, 
Plunge in the deep to find the shore. 
Or, on the land, they search for ore. 

From sea or land — the world of mind 
A wealth of thought these sages find ; 
When some to others gems transmit, 
Caskets of theirs they seldom fit. 
So pearls and gems and diamonds too, 
Groimd and reground, are formed anew. 

Leibnitz and Kant lend of their store 
To Herbart, philosophic ore. 
He tests the mass, divides the loan. 
Part he rejects, makes part his own. 
Leibnitz diu^st not this method blame. 
He served Spinoza just the same. 

Schelling proceeds with Kant and Fitch, 
But soon turns on another switch. 
He runs through his discursive race. 
Transcending science, claims to trace 
How God exists — the absolute, 
In Him, how Nature has her root. 

The absolute, Subject — object. He, 
Ideal, real. Identity. 
The both in one, and one in both, 
The coeternal. living, trutli. 



12 

Nature in Him seems Hiiite, grows, 
The infinite, thus to disclose. 

He seems to show God as a mind. 
Of two grand principles combined ; 
Makes universal y^\\\ andyree. 
With Will self-limited agree. 
Hegel 2:)i'esenting his new views. 
Makes Schelling's logic seem to fuse. 

Woidd that some names might be forgot. 
Their books were better blank or blot ; 
Some of Voltaire's, known by their fruits. 
Are poisonous seeds and poisonous roots. 
Their gems of wit, and pearls of thought. 
Obscenely set, were better naught. 

Philosophers work hard to show 

What they can't do, what they can't know. 

While on firm ground some seem to stand. 

They find some slippery stone at hand, 

On this they step and turn aside. 

Into a vortex down they glide. 

In vain they strive to pierce a view 
The infinite, eternal, through. 
In such a search they fail to find 
The ultimate they have in mind. 
We know not what the spirit's eye 
May yet discover, bv and bv. 

Hinton, upright, unselfish, true, 
(jives us a system somewhat new ; 
Much we believed or learned before. 
Believing him holds true no more : 
All this grand universe so bright. 
He thinks we view in a false light. 



13 

He shows us truth cunnot be found 
By steps of truth from a false ground. 
An edifice of solid stone 
Or blocks of marble shapely hewn. 
Constructed e'er so true and nice, 
Must fall, if based on melting- ice. 

Though steps of truth to error tend, 
When on false bases they depend ; 
Vet if true stepping toward the false 
Divest the error of its gloss, 
vSome progress in our search is made 
To find a base of higher grade. 

We see all systems hitherto 

Have ftuled to bring the prolilems through. 

That now perplex inquiring minds. 

Though wrought by plans of various kinds. 

So Hinton tries a stand-point new. 

That sense perception is untrue. 

All is phenomenal, unsound, 
What seems to us substantial ground. 
Matter not real, not physic — sense 
Consists with high intelligence. 
Nature's fair robe, but seetiiiug dress, 
Her garb — the spirit's type — impress. 

Cause and efiect known as a law 
Merely mechanical, has flaw — 
This law includes in its domain. 
Pious emotions in its chain ; 
Nature and spirit act as one ; 
Appearances we learn to shun. 

This seeming world — symbolic sign, 
Answers an end in God's design. 



Instinct, science, nature, mind, 
Mnst in a truer theory, find 
Their power, their origin, and end, 
On righteousness, as law, depend. 

The laws of natvue show the fiict 
Of God's activity direct. 
Though we in Him exist and live. 
And by His power our minds perceive, 
Yet He's ignored because so near, 
Till miracle makes Him appear. 

His universal law and act, 
Not understood to be a fact, 
He condescends e'en to withdraw 
Necessity from His own law^, 
Thus miracles, of power, express 
The arbitrary, not more, but less. 

So God in Christ, to finite man 

Is best conceived on this same plan — 

By hiding the divine in part, 

That He may touch the human heart. 

By sacrifice He deigns to show 

That by the less, the fnore we know. 

No movement near or distant far. 
No rolling sphere, or sun, or star, 
No falling weight, no shooting light. 
No growing plant, no flying kite, 
No winter's frost, no vernal thaw, 
But gives expression of God's law. 

As here we view phenomenon. 
And learn the laws that force it on, 
Although our senses may deceive, 
The essence typed, we must believe 



Is wonderful, divine, complete ; 
And for its Author's glory niete. 

What is existence? In man's thought. 
To solve this problem, means are sought. 
Comte builds a pile as men are wont, 
Reaches the infinitesimal point. 
Placing his thoughts to suit their place, 
He tries the point to serve as base. 

Because the structure fails that v^av. 
So on the point he's naught to say. 
liinton believes beyond the sight, 
Faith may discern the point of right. 
Where seeming substance loses ground, 
Bv faith the essence mav be found. 

Not by the senses is it known. 
Nor by the intellect alone, 
But by the conscience, reason, faith, 
Believing God and what he saith. 
Where all phenomena are seen, 
Something exists behind the screen. 

So all appearances may lead. 

To search to find the true indeed ; 

Thus sick philosophy has found 

Its cure on scientific ground. 

The science of our dreaming life. 

May help us through the dream of strife. 

But sometimes Science needs a pill, 
A tonic help to climb the hill ; 
The moral sense and faith in God 
Trusts Him to show the future road : 
Industrious research thus controlled, 
Will see new mysteries unfold. 



i6 



Cointe makes theology but fruit 
Of childish minds, without a root. 
And metaphysics can remain 
l^ut in the youthful, simple brain : 
Philosophy he claims for men 
Who Nature's laws can rightly scan. 

If this be " positively " true, 

Our thanks to God we will renew, 

That what He's4iidden from the wise. 

Because they choose to close their eyes. 

He unto willing babes imparts. 

Of weaker heads but purer hearts. 

Mansel. Spencer, Comte. these three. 

As to phenomena agree ; 

But as to evolution, they. 

Seem each to show a diflerent w ay. 

Beware lest their agnostic creed 

To Clifford's final '' No God" lead. 

Read not their books, or, if you do. 

Read Way land's Moral Science too. 

Let appetite and passion know 

How far self-love would have them go. 

Let love of self be bound again 

liv love that best will serve all men. 

(jod has put conscience in man's soul. 
.Sense and emotions to control ; 
This lamp will shine with purest ray. 
When filled with God's kuoAvn will and way. 
What skeptics find in nature sealed. 
Science and faith oft find revealed. 

Change sight to faith to see aright 

This world ; the next, turns faith to sight. 



17 

Baptism has a meaning new, 
Clearer by faith than sensuous view ; 
The figure vastly more contains 
Than merely hitcllect explains. 

Water which was the sinner's grave, 
When in the ark did Noah save. 
By faith in Christ we with Him die, 
x\nd in the liquid grave we lie, 
Immersing there the corpse of sin. 
While safe in Christ the Ark we're in. 

We share, as in His death, the grave, 
His resurrection power to save. 
Being baptized into His name, 
As over Him in act the same. 
The Spirit brooding like a dove. 
Speaks His approval and His love. 

Love fills the heart with joyous will 
To all the Master's law fulfill ; 
Devoid of faith, the act indeed 
Would answer not the conscience's need. 
This symbol is God's own device, 
T'obev is more than sacrifice. 

From out the eastern hiding-place. 
The morning dawn of light we trace ; 
Ere we perceive the orb of day, 
We know he's marching on his way. 
This grand phenomenon should teach 
Of heavenly light, ere heaven we reach. 

To view appearances aright, 
Feeling is truer test than sight ; 
So learning truth on moral grade. 
Intellect serves as conscience's maul. 



The feeling faith, or faith with love. 
Compared with thought, is far above. 

We ask not miracle, but light, 
The true necessity of right — 
This is Thy law, O holy Guide, 
Lead us Thy way, walk by ovir side, 
Nay, dwell in us, and we in Thee, 
United thus eternallv. 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



018 597 073 ^ c^ „^ 



COPYRIGHT, 1883. 



